Remain an immigrant in this land. I will be with you and bless you, since it will be to you and your offspring that I will give all these lands. I will thus keep the oath that I made to your father Abraham.

When the local men asked about his wife, he told them that she was his sister. He was afraid to say that she was his wife. Rebecca was so good-looking that the local men could have killed him because of her.

He then moved away from there and dug another well. This time it was not disputed, so he named it Wide Spaces (Rechovoth). 'Now God will grant us wide open spaces,' he said. 'We can be fruitful in the land.'

[His wives] became a source of spiritual bitterness to Isaac and Rebecca.

Commentary:

first famine...Genesis 12:10. This chapter is the only place where we see Isaac without Abraham or Jacob, and it is here that we see Isaac's life literally as a carbon copy of Abraham's (see Genesis 26:18). While it had been Abraham's task to blaze spiritual trails, it was Isaac's mission to consolidate them.

Abimelekh Probably not the same as the one involved with Abraham; see note on Genesis 20:2. According to one source, this was the previous Abimelekh's son (Targum on 26:28).

Gerar See Genesis 20:1. It was on the boundary of the Holy Land, 10:19. From the context, it seems that Isaac was headed toward Egypt. This is difficult to understand, since Isaac lived in Beer LaChai Roi (Genesis 25:11), which is to the west of Gerar, on the way to Egypt. It is possible that Isaac went to Gerar because of Abraham's previous treaty (cf. Ramban). Alternatively, this is connected to the following sentence, and Isaac went to Gerar at God's command (Josephus, Antiquities 1:18:2). However, see note on Genesis 20:1.

Gerar Valley Or Gerar Wadi (Saadia). A wadi is a stream or river that flows primarily during the rainy season. There is such a wadi connecting Gerar and Beer-sheba, flowing to the south. See note on Genesis 20:1.

Rechovoth There is a well known as Rehueibeh 20 miles southwest of Beer-sheba, equidistant between Beer-sheba and the site of Gerar. We thus see that Isaac was following the wadi from Gerar to Beer-sheba.

ShibahShivah in Hebrew. This is the masculine for seven, while Sheba (sheva) is the feminine. See note on Genesis 21:31. Some say that this was the well that Abraham dug in Beer-sheba (Genesis 21:25), which had been plugged up by the Philistines (Ramban), while others maintain that it was a new well (Rashbam).

Beer-sheba Abraham had given the name only to the well or the district (see Genesis 21:14), while Isaac gave it to the city that subsequently sprung up in the area (Radak). Moreover, Isaac's designation became the place's permanent name (Rabbi Menasheh ben Yisroel, Conciliator 48).

JudithYehudith in Hebrew, a name that subsequently became popular among Jews. Some say that Esau did not have any children by this Judith. Others identify her with Oholibamah in Genesis 36:2, (see Rashi ad loc.; Josephus, Antiquities 1:18:4).

Basemath Some say that she was the Adah bath Elon in Genesis 36:2 (Ibn Ezra here, Rashi on Genesis 36:2. Also see Genesis 36:10, 13, 17). Some say that Esau's wives were from the land of Seir (Sefer HaYashar, p.73). The fathers of Esau's wives were great lords among the Canaanites (Radak; Josephus).

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